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IfBRCAirriLM  i..-^-'^^*^'^  ^->--^'^-' X 


^-•^TTT  YORK  CITY 

AN  ADDRESS, 


DELIVERED    JULY     15,     183  5, 


BEFORE   THE 


EUCLEIAN  AND  PHILOMATHEAN  SOCIETIES 


UNIVERSITY    OF    THE    CITY    OF    NEW-YORK. 


7^ 

/        )  JOHN  BRECKINRIDGE,  D.  D.  ^ /l       - 

#-*!] 


NEW-YORK : 

PRINTED    BY    W  E  ST    &   TROW. 

1836. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1836,  by  West  &  Trow, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District  of  New- 
York. 


i:^ 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


New- York  University,  July  17,  1835. 
Rev.  John  Breckinridge. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir, 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Eucleian-  Society  of  the  University  of  the  City  of 
New- York,  held  Thursday,  July  16,  1835,  it  was  unanimously 

"Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed,  to  present  the  thanks 
of  this  society  to  the  Rev.  John  Breckinridge,  for  the  very  able  and  eloquent 
Address  delivered  before  them,  on  the  evening  of  the  loth  instant,  and  to 
request  a  copy  thereof  for  publication." 

In  discharging  this  duty,  permit  us  to  express  the  hope  we  indulge,  that  we 
shall  not  be  disappointed  in  receiving  the  Address;  for  if  we  mistake  not  our 
own  feelings,  we  are  really  desirous  of  having  continually  before  us,  and  of 
presenting  to  others,  an  answer  to  the  query,  "What  is  our  duty  as  American 
Young  Men,  in  the  present  important  crisis  of  our  nation's  history  1" 
With  the  highest  respect  and  esteem, 

Believe  us  yours  sincerely, 

JOHN  E.  CALDWELL  DOREMUS,"" 

R.   R.  KELLOGG, 

ALFRED  VAIL,  ^COMMITTEE. 

JAMES  S.  m'cAULEY, 

ALFRED  HOLMES,*  I 


To  Messrs.  John  E.  Caldwell  Doremce, 
R.  R.  Kellogg, 
Alfred  Vail, 
JAMEi^  S.  M'Caules. 
YoiTNO  Gentlemen, 

In  reply  to  your  esteemed  communication  of  July  17th,  it  is  my  duty  to  say, 
that  it  was  with  much  hesitation  I  yielded  to  your  very  kind  invitation,  to  de- 
liver the  first  Annual  Address,  before  the  "  Eucleian  and  Philomathean  Socie- 
ties," on  the  evening  of  July  15th,  feeling  deeply  conscious  of  my  unfitness  to  do 
justice  to  that  interesting  service.  Yet  having  consented  to  attempt  it,  what 
was  uttered  on  that  occasion  became  your  properly,  and  ought  to  be  at  your 
disposal.  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty,  tiierefore,  to  decline  a  compliance  with  your 
request  for  its  publication.  It  is  due,  however,  to  you,  and  to  myself  also,  to 
say,  that  my  long  delay  in  meeting  your  wishes,  has  been  owing  not  only  to 

'  Sine*  d«ctiH<J. 


4B114r> 


tho  sliortnrss  of  the  original  notice,  (which  put  it  out  of  my  power  to  commit 
the  Address  to  writing  before  its  delivery,)  hut  to  the  very  active  nature  of  my 
present  engagements,  which  afford  httle  repose  or  leisure  for  such  duties.  The 
manuscript  sent  lierewith,  will  be  found  to  embrace  the  substance  of  what  was 
spoken,  excepting  two  allusions  ;  one  to  O'Conncll,  who  is  too  low  to  notice; 
the  other,  to  our  late  iUustrious  Chief  Justice,  who  was  above  all  praise,  but  who 
has  since  been  so  ably  and  faithfully  eulogized,  that  my  hasty  allusion  seems 
now  to  be  unnecessary. 

The  principles  asserted  in  this  Address,  however  imperfectly  uttered,  will,  I 
cannot  doubt,  commend  themselves  to  the  hearts  and  understandings  of  the 
American  Youth,  to  whonr  the  Address,  through  your  valuable  Society,  is  re- 
spectfully dedicated,  by  their  friend  and  fellow-citizen, 


JOHN     BRECKINRIDGE, 


Philadelphia    Education   Rooms,    } 
December   24,  1835.      S 


ADDRESS,    &c. 

That  was  a  moment  of  sublime  and  awful  interest, 
and  replete  with  great  events,  which  made  known  the  New 
World  to  Christopher  Columbus.  The  consummation  of 
this  most  memorable  enterprise  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
is  thus  described  by  our  own  Irving,  the  biographer  of  the 
great  Captain : 

"  When  Columbus  was  wrapped  from  observation  by  the 
shades  of  night,  he  maintained  an  intense  and  unremitted 
watch,  ranging  his  eye  along  the  dusky  horizon,  in  search 
of  the  most  vagfue  indications  of  land.  At  two  in  the  morn- 
ing,  a  gun  from  the  Pinta  (the  vessel  of  Columbus)  gave  the 
joyous  signal  for  land;  whereupon  they  took  in  sail,  and 
laid  to,  waiting  impatiently  for  the  dawn.  The  thoughts 
and  feelings  of  Columbus  in  this  little  space  of  time,  must 
have  been  most  tumultuous  and  intense.  The  great  mystery 
of  the  ocean  W£is  revealed  ;  his  theory,  which  had  been  the 
scoff  of  sages,  was  triumphantly  established  ;  he  had  secured 
himself  a  glory,  which  must  be  as  durable  as  the  world 
itself  It  is  difficult  for  the  imagination  to  conceive  the 
feelings  of  such  a  man,  at  the  moment  of  so  stiblhne  a. 
discovery.^'' 

Never  was  a  vessel  so  richly  freighted  with  the  destiny 
of  nations,  as  that  which  bore  the  invincible  spirit  of 
Columbus  to  our  Hemisphere.  If  events  are  to  be  estimated 
by  their  results,  nothing  in  the  history  of  human  enterprise 
can  exceed  this  discovery  in  real  greatness,  or  in  illimitable 
good  to  man.  It  was  the  fault  of  the  age,  rather  than  of  his 
own  enlarged  spirit,  that  Columbus  took  possession  of  the 
New  World  in  the  name  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  :  and  it 

2 


was  the  consummation  of  the  art  of  sinking,  when  the 
Roman  Pontilf,  by  a  pompous  bull,  gravely  bestowed  our 
Continent  on  the  Sovereigns  of  Castile.  Cohimbus  should 
have  possessed  it,  in  tlie  name  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  of  the 
liuman  race.  It  was  not  made  for  "  Cccsa?;"  nor  "  the 
Pope'^  of  Ro7ne,  but  for  truth,  for  liberty,  and  man  ;  and, 
glowing  as  were  the  visions  of  the  illustrious  discoverer,  he 
saw  not  those  sublime  results  which  were  soon  to  become 
the  chief  glory  of  the  New  World. 

While  the  whole  Continent  has  become  his  imperishable 
monument,  it  was  evidently  designed  by  the  only  Sovereign 
whom  we  acknowledge,  to  be  one  vast  theatre  for  the  dis- 
play of  the  Divine  glory,  and  the  advancement  of  human 
society  in  all  that  is  good  and  great. 

Tlie  2)rej)aratory  events^  which,  by  an  overruhng  Pro- 
vidence were  made  to  precede  or  to  attend  the  discovery  of 
America,  were  of  the  most  extraordinary  character,  and  in 
their  progressive  development,  indicate  the  relation  which 
they  bear  to  that  great  occurrence.  As  the  fact  of  the  dis- 
covery doubled  the  domain  of  civilized  man,  so  the  events 
lo  which  we  allude,  seem  to  have  been  brought  on  by  the 
Ruler  of  the  world,  to  dispose  and  enable  the  youthful 
nations  on  which  he  designed  to  bestow  it,  to  make  the  right 
appropriation  of  so  vast  an  inheritance.  It  was  as  if  God  had 
made  a  new  grant  to  man  for  new  and  nobler  efforts  in 
the  advancement  of  truth,  liberty,  and  the  public  good. 
The  discovery  of  the  magnet,  the  revival  of  letters,  the 
invention  of  printing,  and,  to  name  no  more,  the  ever- 
memorable  Reformation,  (that  re-visitation  of  the  earth  with 
light  and  glory  from  on  high,)  seem  designed,  by  Heaven,  to 
prepare  the  way  for  unfolding  the  resources,  and  shaping 
the  destiny  of  America. 

Especially  did  the  last  named  event,  or  rather  galaxy  of 
events,  come  forth  as  a  morning  star  from  the  hand  of  God, 
to  lead  the  Old  World,  as  it  awoke  from  the  long,  dark  night 
which  had  for  ages  overhung  it,  to  the  better  hopes,  and 


sacred  freedom  of  the  New.  The  Pope  ceded  America  to 
Ferdinand  of  Spain  :  God  gave  it  to  liberty.  America  was 
the  doicry  of  the  Reformation. 

Enropean  monarchists,  who  call  our  resistance  to  tyrants 
rebeUion,  and  our  freedom,  radicaUsm,  affect  to  despise 
our  praise  of  American  principles,  as  national  vanity. 
We  claim  not  to  be  infallible,  either  in  Church  or  in  State. 
We  leave  to  the  Political  and  Religious  Despots  of  the 
Old  World,  to  garnish  the  sepulchres  of  their  perishing  insti- 
tutions with  presumptuous  titles  of  divine  right,  and  empty 
names  of  inerrability.  But  we  may  humbly  bless  the  God 
of  nations,  that,  by  the  Reformation  of  Luther,  and  its 
immediate  results,  he  prepared  a  people  in  the  old  world, 
and  then,  by  his  providence,  gathered  them  out,  and  sent 
them  forth  to  colonize  America.  It  is  not  speaking  too 
strongly,  when  we  say,  that  the  light  of  our  national  liberty 
dawned  in  the  cell  of  Luther.  "  It  was  upon  Am,"  says 
Schlegel,  though  himself  a  monarchist,  "  It  was  upon  hiifi 
and  his  sotd  tliat  the  fate  of  Europe  depended.  He  was 
THE  MAN  of  his  age  and  his  nationJ^ 

Among  the  most  memorable  facts  in  the  history  of 
liberty,  is  this  :  that  the  Reformation  occurred  among  the 
hardy  and  indomitable  Saxons ;  and  that  it  passed,  burning 
ill  their  bosoms,  through  Geneva,  and  Britain,  and  Holland, 
to  North  America ;  so  that  the  genius  of  the  Reformation 
was  the  germ  of  our  national  freedom.  Who  can  estimate, 
without  mingled  emotions  of  horror  and  gratitude,  the  con- 
sequences which  might  have  resulted  from  the  settlement  of 
our  country  by  Spain,  or  Portugal,  or  even  France  herself? 
Yet  Spain  first  took  possession  of  our  soil  ;  and  she  long 
held  a  large  domain,  and  presented  a  threatening  front 
on  our  borders.  Who  can  doubt,  that,  because  Spain  and 
Portugal  discharg<;d  tlie  masses  of  their  population  on  the 
southern  limb'of  our  Hemisphere,  and  impressed  on  it  the 
despotism  of  their  civil  and  religious  institutions,  therefore, 


8 

there  is  yet  no  peace,  no  happiness,  no  freedom,  for  that  vast 
Continent  ?  Why  is  it  that  their  dehverance  still  hngers?  That 
thougli  tlie  poUtical  tyrants  have  been  chased  ont  of  these 
lands,  the  people  have  yet  no  freedom  ?  It  is  because  Spain 
and  Portiis^al,  two  centuries  ago,  breathed  into  that  noble 
Continent,  "  where  man  alone  is  vile,"  the  pestilence  of  civil 
and  religious  despotism  ;  because  they  closed  on  her  the 
page  of  knowledge,  and  forbade  to  her  the  Bible,  which  re- 
veals and  works  out  the  liberties  of  man. 

And  what  if  France,  who  so  long  skirted  our  frontier 
with  her  military  fortresses,  had  possessed  and  peopled  this 
land?  The  Huguenots  of  France,  like  the  Puritans  of  Eng- 
land, were  her  only  real  freemen,  and  the  only  race  of  all 
her  sons  fitted  to  found  Republics  in  the  New  World.  But 
dishonored  France  denied  them  alike  exile  abroad,  or  exist- 
ence, without  infamy,  at  home.  She  commanded  them  to 
depart,  yet  pursued  their  flight.  She  bade  them  stay,  and 
yet  did  not  permit  them  to  live  and  be  free.  But  in  every 
land  where  the  remnant  of  this  injured,  noble  people,  have 
found  rest,  they  stand  forth  the  wards  of  a  guardian  Provi- 
dence, and  a  crown  of  glory  to  every  people. 

It  was  not  then  to  Spain,  or  Portugal,  or  France,  that 
Heaven  allotted  the  sublime  enterprise  of  laying  on  these 
shores  the  foundations  of  the  American  System.  It  was 
to  Anglo-Saxons,  in  whom  breathed  the  spirit  of  Luther,  and 
Calvin,  and  the  Puritans,  that  we  owe  the  establishment  in 
America  of  religious  and  civil  liberty ;  and  the  hand  was 
Divine,  which  prepared  the  events,  the  men,  and  the  asy- 
lum, and  in  due  time,  blended  them  in  that  great  result  in 
which  we  now  rejoice. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  dwell  on  the  eventful  history  of 
our  country.  We  must  leave  your  youthful  hearts  to  trace 
with  ever  fresh  delight  and  gratitude  to  God,  the  progress 
of  the  memorable  events  which  led  to  the  present  glorious 
consummation. 


We  can  only  exhibit,  in  a  very  imperfect  and 
cursory  way,  some  of  the  features  which  pecu- 
liarly characterize  our  country,  and  then  point 
out  the  duty  of  american  youth,  resulting  from 
such  a  view,  especially  at  the  present  crisis. 

I.  Our  country  is  eminently  characterized  as  the 
depository  of  liberty. 

We  have  already  seen  how  the  way  was  prepared,  and 
how  the  events  were  brought  forth  in  such  an  order  as  to 
make  our  country  the  refuge  of  all  men  who  were  sighing  for 
freedom  under  the  ancient  dynasties  of  Europe.  The  pres- 
sure of  tyrannic  power,  both  in  the  civil  and  religious 
world,  seemed  to  produce  on  such  minds  a  general  desire 
for  change  ;  and  emigration  to  America  offered  that  hope, 
which  was  looked  for  in  vain  from  domestic  revolution. 
Hence,  the  immediate  effect  was,  an  Exodus  to  the  newly 
discovered  Continent  of  the  selectest  spirits  of  the  age.  The 
most  enterprising,  intrepid,  and  godly  men,  the  votaries  of 
freedom,  civil  and  religious,  at  home,  were  the  men  who 
colonized  America.  They  were  attracted  to  a  country  far 
from  the  oppressor,  where  God  and  nature  offered  freedom 
and  rest. 

Deus  abscidit 
Prudens  oceano  dissociabili 
Terras. 

And  they  were  chased  out  of  Europe :  hurried  away  as  men 
who  were  disturbing  the  repose  of  arbitrary  power,  religions 
despotism,  and  the  antiquated  and  rotten  institutions  of  the 
dark  ages. 

Such  were  the  Puritans,  whose  praises  historic  truth  has 
extorted,  as  a  reluctant  tribute,  from  the  pen  even  of  David 
Hume,  who  has  said,  "  by  them  alone  the  precious  spark  of 
liberty  has  been  kindled,  and  was  preserved  ;  and  to  them 
the  Eyii^lish  owe  the  whole  freedom  of  their  constitution." 
Such  were  the  followers  of  the  illustrious  Penn ;  such  the 


10 

few,  but  noble  descendants  of  the  Huguenots,  who  took 
refuge  in  onr  country  ;  such  were  the  Protestants  of  Holland, 
Great  Britain,  and  Ireland ;  such  the  Elile  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  yeomanry  and  gentry;  and,  in  a  word,  such  that 
Eclectic  nation,  gathered  out  of  Protestant  Europe  to  this 
great  asylum  of  persecuted  man,  as  the  Avant  Courriers  of 
American  liberty,  and  the  illustrious  founders  of  the  Ameri- 
can States. 

Here,  where  all  things  were  formed  on  a  scale  of  unsub- 
dued liberty  and  greatness  ;  widely  separated  from  the  cor- 
ruptions and  oppression  of  the  mother-countries,  the  weary, 
but  undaunted  Pilgrims  found  room  to  expatiate  on  their 
long-plundered  hopes,  and  to  enjoy,  in  its  true  enlargement, 
the  sublime  right  of  freedom.  Htjre  they  might  revert  to  the 
first  principles  of  the  rights  of  man,  and  of  the  oracles  of  God  : 
here  recall  the  primeval  days  of  simple,  apostolic  freedom,  in 
the  Church  ;  and  here,  with  no  tyrant  to  tread  it  down,  plant 
in  the  soil  of  our  country,  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left  of 
the  altar  of  God,  the  tree  of  liberty  :  here,  in  a  word,  remodel 
the  institutions  of  the  Church  and  of  the  State,  on  the  basis  of 
truth  and  freedom,  deeply  laid  in  the  word  of  God,  after  that 
pattern  which  makes  all  men  brethren  and  equals,  and  God 
the  only  monarch  of  the  race.  Thus  liberty,  long  a  wan- 
dering stranger,  perched  in  hope  on  the  standard  of  Colum- 
bus, and  fixed  her  last  abode  rejoicing,  on  the  green  fields 
and  the  everlasting  hills  of  our  country. 

It  is  true  that  our  ancestors  understood  but  imperfectly, 
the  extent  and  fullness  of  that  liberty  for  which  they  became 
voluntary  exiles  in  a  distant  and  barbarous  land.  It  required 
the  experience  of  an  age,  to  teach  them  religious  toleration; 
and  of  another  age,  to  instruct  them  that  not  toleration,  but 
universal  equality^  and  entire  jirotection  of  the  rights  of 
conscience,  was  true  religious  liberty  ;  that  the  Church  and 
the  State  could  only  prosper  by  putting  eternal  barriers  be- 
tween their  respective  administrations  ;  that  every  approach 
to  union  was  an  approach  to  mutual  deformity  and  ruin ; 


11 

that  the  State  corrupts  and  secularizes  the  Church,  and  the 
Church  enslaves  and  absorbs  the  State.  Thus  the  Puritans 
of  New-England  persecuted  each  other.  The  gentry  of 
Virginia  were  long  agitated  by  factions  and  civil  feuds,  in 
establishing  the  first  principles  of  their  freedom ;  and  the 
Catholic  Colony  of  Maryland  restricted  their  religious  tole- 
ration to  a  particular  creed  ;*  thus  taking  away  much  of 
the  praise  of  that  solitary  and  boasted  example  of  Catholic 
toleration. 

The  efforts,  also,  of  the  colonies,  toward  the  enlargement 
and  perfection  of  their  free  constitutions,  were  continually 
checked  by  the  dominion  and  jealousy  of  the  Parent  States, 
which  were  not  too  far  away  to  fear  and  repress  the  rising 
spirit  of  freedom  in  America.  Yet,  in  the  final  issue,  civil 
and  religious  liberty  has  been  settled  on  its  true  and  eternal 
principles.  The  declaration  of  American  independence,  not 
to  say  the  American  constitutions,  contains  more  truth  on 
the  rights  of  man,  than  all  the  legislation  and  pandects  of 
aticient  and  modern  times  ;  excepting  always,  those  infallible 
pages  whence  our  fathers  drew  their  knowledge  and  love  of 
liberty,  where  the  true  principles  of  civil  and  religious  free- 
dom are  taught  as  a  revelation  from  God,  and  published  to 
the  earth  as  the  indefeasible  birth-right  of  man. 

If  this  view  be  just,  then  our  institutions  differ  from  the 
best  examples  of  the  states  of  Europe,  not  only  in  the  con- 
summate measure,  but  in  the  essential  nature  of  our  free- 
dom. Our  rights  are  defined,  not  conferred,  by  our  free 
constitutions.  They  depend,  not  on  the  will  of  a  majority? 
but  rest  aback  of  all  majorities,  and  of  all  constitulions^ 
reposing,  inalienably,  in  those  high  munitions  which  God 
has  founded  in  the  nature  of  man.  Union  gives  power  to 
sustain  us  in  the  exercise  of  these  rights  ;  but  the  rights 
themselves  arc  from  God.  Toleration  is  the  highest  attain- 
ment of  religious  liberty  in  Europe;  but  toleration  supposes 
forbearance,  concession,  favor,    inequality  of  right.     Reli- 

♦  TriTitfarian*  alone  were  tolerated. 


12 

gious  liberty  in  America  rises  to  universal  equality  in  the 
ri«lits  of  conscience.  It  throws  its  broad  JbWxs  over  all :  it 
prefects  all.  This  may,  with  more  fitness  than  all  the 
adjustments  of  our  political  economy,  and  all  the  schemes  of 
the  national  taritf,  be  called  the  American  System.  It  is  a 
return,  in  liclig-ion,  to  the  lirst  principles  of  the  Christian 
commonwealth,  as  revealed  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and 
established  by  his  Apostles  ;  and  in  the  Civil  State,  it  is  the 
practical  operation  of  the  great,  self-evident  truths,  "  That 
all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights ;  that  among  these 
are  hfe,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  ;  that  to  secure 
these  rights,  governments  are  instituted  among  men,  deriving 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed ;  that 
whenever  any  form  of  government  becomes  destructive  of 
these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  to  abolish 
it,  and  to  institute  a  new  government,  laying  its  foundation 
on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form 
as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  their  safety  and 
happiness." 

Whether  in  the  inscrutable  providence  of  God,  we  are 
destined  to  follow  the  fate  of  the  nations  which  have  gone 
before  us,  it  is  not  for  our  too  partial  and  limited  judgment 
to  decide.  But  the  principles  on  which  we  build  our  institu- 
tions are  eternal ;  and  the  people  who  shall  sustain  them  in 
their  purity  and  pov/er  cannot  be  enslaved.  They  take 
away  the  tools  of  tyrants — they  undermine  their  thrones — 
they  cannot  fail.  Such  is  the  liberty  of  which  God  has 
made  us  the  honored  and  responsible  conservators.  It  is  a 
solemn  trust :  may  it  be  an  imperishable  deposit ! 

We  feel  justified  to  denominate  our  country  the  depo- 
sitory of  liberty,  because  full  and  true  liberty  is  enjoyed 
by  no  other  people ;  because  it  was  in  pursuit  of  liberty 
that  our  fathers  performed  that  illustrious  pilgrimage  which 
brought  them  to  America ;  because,  in  the  name,  and  for  the 
sake  of  liberty,  the  war  of  independence  was  waged,  and  the 


13 

national  Union  formed  ;  and  because  the  perfect  freedom  of 
our  institutions  constitutes  the  distinguishing  characteristic, 
and  pecuhar  glory  of  the  United  States.  There  was  a  most 
noble  expression  oftliis  national  idea,g\ven  before  the  face 
of  all  nations,  by  our  late  Chief  Magistrate,  in  the  name  of  the 
Continent,  and  as  the  representative  of  liberty,  when  he  gave 
notice  to  Europe,  that  the  American  people  would  not  per- 
mit a  war  of  conquest  to  be  carried  on  against  any  state  of 
this  Hemisphere,  by  any  power  of  Europe.  It  was  a  just 
and  a  sublime  republication  of  the  great  principles  of  the 
American  System.  Tlie  Atnerican  people  responded  as  one 
man  to  the  manifesto  of  their  Chief  Magistrate,  made  in  the 
name  of  the  human  race ;  and  it  was  a  most  appropriate 
seal  to  the  acknowledgment  of  the  independence  of  the 
sister  America,  by  our  national  legislature. 

Alas !  that  the  unhappy  States  of  Southern  America, 
having  expelled  the  civil  despots,  should  now  become 
the  victims  of  intestine  war,  and  the  willing  slaves  of  a  cor- 
rupt and  mercenary  priesthood ! 

That  it  is  not  the  indulgence  of  national  vanity  to  call 
our  country  the  dejwsitonj  of  liberty,  will  appear  by  a  refer- 
ence to  facts,  illustrating  the  light  in  which  we  are  regarded 
by  foreign  princes,  who  are  always,  ex  officio,  owx  foes  ;  and 
by  the  people  of  other  lands,  who  are  as  uniformly  our 
friends.  We  have  a  memorable  example  of  the  former  in 
the  history  of  the  unfortunate  Poles,  who  were  forcibly  sent 
to  the  United  States  by  the  Emperor  of  Austria. 

These  unhappy  exiles  were  patriots  in  arms,  nobly  con- 
tending for  their  liberties,  when  they  were  overwhelmed  by 
superior  force.  Their  bleeding  country  had  but  recently 
been  dismembered  limb  from  limb,  and  distributed  among 
the  vultures  of  war.  Now  the  smouldering  spark  of  liberty 
must  be  extinguished  for  ever,  lest,  rekindling,  it  should 
arise,  to  rob  these  spoilers  of  their  prey,  and  pursue  them 
with  destruction  to  their  native  eyry.  Driven  from  their 
last  retreat,  the  remnant  of  the   Polish   patriots  found  no 


14 

asylum  even  in  an  Empire  professing  itself  neutral,  but  were 
arrested  by  order  of  the  government,  and,  after  the  most 
barbarous  treatment,  were  offered  the  bitter  alternative  of 
perpetual  slavery  or  perpetual  exile.  Such  men  could  not 
long  hesitate  in  making  the  election,  to  be  free,  though  in  a 
distant  land.  It  is  a  lasting  tribute  to  our  country,  that  it 
was  selected  by  a  prince  famed  for  his  enmity  to  free  insti- 
tutions, as  their  appropriate  home.  It  was  an  unwilling 
compliment,  wrung  from  oppression  by  the  extraordinary 
crisis.  It  was  so  understood  by  the  nations  of  Europe :  it 
was  so  understood  by  the  American  people.  The  unfortu- 
nate patriots  were  conveyed  to  our  country  in  an  Austrian 
vessel  of  war  !  We  received  them  as  the  guests  of  the 
nation.  The  characteristic  hospitality  of  your  noble  city 
gave  them  with  one  hand,  food  and  raiment,  with  the  other 
the  Bible.  But  they  were  the  property,  the  orphans  of  the 
nation :  she,  therefore,  endowed  them  with  a  portion  of  the 
national  domain — feeling  that  the  national  position,  the 
national  honor,  the  national  sentiment,  called  for  some 
appropriate  public  act,  which  should  not  merely  make  pro- 
vision for  them  at  the  public  charge,  but  should  tell  to  the 
whole  world,  by  some  enduring  monument,  how  the  Ame- 
rican jjeople  felt  towards  the  countrymen  of  Kosciusko, 
who  had  been  rem,itted  to  them,  in  the  sight  of  all  nations, 
by  a  faithless  tyrant  in  the  nam,e  of  liberty. 

But  why  was  America  selected  by  the  Emperor  of 
Austria?  Was  it  a  casual  choice?  Why  conduct  them 
through  the  length  of  his  Empire,  under  military  escort,  and 
then  send  them  to  our  shores,  in  a  vessel  of  state  ?  Mercy 
would  not  force  them  into  exile,  nor  cast  them,  in  extreme 
necessity,  on  a  foreign  shore  !  No ;  it  was  not  casual  or 
merciful.  If  clothed  in  words,  its  language  would  be  this  : 
Your  restless  and  unquenchable  love  of  liberty  will  disturb 
the  deep  repose  of  our  subject  empires  ;  it  will  endanger  our 
thrones ;  yet  it  will  stain  our  escutcheons  to  immerse 
in  Austrian  and  Russian  dungeons,  the  last  patriots  of 


15 

Poland.  No,  you  shall  be  free  !  But  it  shall  be  far  away ; 
in  a  land  where  you  will  find  congenial  liberty;  where,  at 
a  returnless  distance  from  Poland,  and  from  tyrants,  you 
may,  without  ruin  to  us,  or  contagion  to  the  people,  enjoy 
the  freedom  you  desire.  And  we  accept  the  honorable  boon 
— we  welcome  the  persecuted  Pole,  and  the  friend  of  free- 
dom from  every  land,  in  the  name  of  the  depository  of 
liberty. 

We  turn  from  the  oppressor  to  the  people,  for  another 
example  from  the  many  which  history  affords,  in  confirm- 
ation of  our  principle.  It  is  taken  from  a  scene  in  Mexico. 
It  is  a  splendid  event  in  the  national  history,  and  now  glows 
upon  the  canvas,  represented  in  its  simple  grandeur  by  an 
American  artist.  We  allude  to  the  unfurling  of  the  Ame- 
rican flag  by  our  Minister  at  Mexico,  in  a  moment  of 
extremest  peril;  which  was  sublimely  conceived  and  per- 
formed, and  which  promptly  reduced  an  infuriated  mob  to 
peace,  while  it  called  up  in  their  minds  the  sentiments  of 
American  liberty  and  glory.  "At  the  period,"  says  the 
Charleston  circular,  "  of  the  revolution  of  the  Acordada, 
which  compelled  the  Congress  of  Mexico  to  reverse  the  elec- 
tion of  Pedraza,  and  place  Guerrero  in  the  presidential 
chair — the  city  was  taken  by  assault,  and  the  army  of  Guer- 
rero attacked  and  plundered  the  houses  of  the  European 
Spaniards,  who  are  peculiarly  odious  to  the  native  Mexi- 
cans. Many  of  these  persons  had  taken  refuge  in  the  house 
of  the  American  Ambassador  ;  and  it  was  pointed  out  to  the 
exasperated  soldiery  as  the  asylum  of  their  enemies.  They 
rushed  to  attack  it,  and  in  a  few  minutes  would  have  mas- 
sacred all  within  its  walls.  At  this  moment,  when  hundreds 
of  muskets  were  levelled  at  the  windows,  Mr.  Poinsett,  with 
his  Secretary  of  Legation,  Mr.  John  Mason,  jr.,  threw  him- 
self into  an  open  balcony  which  overlooked  the  crowd, 
and  unfurling  the  .sTAU-SFANfiLKD  banner,  demanded  that 
all  persons  in  his  house  should  be  protected  wliilc  the  flag  of 
his  country  waved  over  them.     The  scene  changed  as  by 


16 

enchantment ;  and  the  very  men  who  were  about  to  make 
the  attack,  cheered  the  standard  of  our  union,  and 
placed  sentinels  to  guard  it  from  outrage.  The  history  of 
the  world  presents  no  parallel  to  such  a  scene ;  and  its 
moral  beauty  and  grandeur  should  be  equally  preserved 
on  the  page  of  the  historian,  and  the  canvas  of  the 
painter." 

Now  it  was  not  chiefly  the  moral  sublime  of  the  action, 
which  arrested  and  awed  the  infuriated  mob,  though  that 
is  scarcely  surpassed  in  the  history  of  the  world, — it  was  not 
the  fear  of  distant  retribution  (mobs  do  not  foresee  or  fear 
the  distant  future) — it  was  the  symbol  of  liberty  ;  it  was  the 
standard  of  a.  free  people,  which  attracted,  melted,  subdued 
the  multitude,  and  amidst  a  sea  of  tumultuous  passions, 
made  so  great  a  calm.  It  was  the  star  of  glorious  hope, 
beaming  from  the  banner  of  our  country. 

Quorum  simul  alba  nautis 
Stella  refulsit, 
Defluit  saxis  agitatus  humor ; 
Concidunl  venti  fugiuntque  nubes ; 
Et  minax,  (quod  sic  voluere,)  ponto 

Unda  recumbit. 

We  cannot  forbear  the  narration  of  an  eifect  produced  by 
the  same  great  sentiment  of  liberty,  on  a  domestic  mob.  It 
is  said  that  in  your  own  city — which,  unhappily,  has  not 
been  exempt  from  these  disgraceful  scenes  of  popular  com- 
motion— while  the  relentless  multitude,  to  use  their  own 
expressive  language,  was  once  gutting  the  house  of  an 
offensive  citizen,  they  alighted  on  the /ace  of  Washington. 
In  a  moment  there  was  a  solemn  pause,  and  a  deep,  diffusive 
silence  through  the  thick  mass.  A  voice  then  uttered  these 
words :  "  Take  care  of  that  /"  "  What  is  it  ?"  was  the 
inquiry  in  every  direction.  "  Washingtoti  !  Washington  !" 
was  the  reply.  "  Washington  !"  was  now  re-echoed  with 
deafening  shouts  from  the  surrounding  crowd,  with  a  thou- 
sand voices,  repeating  "  Take  care  of  Washington  !"  The 
image  of  Washington,  with  as  sacred  an  awe  as  such  a  mul- 


17 

titude  could  feel,  was  passed  from  hand  to  hand,  above  the 
heads  of  the  whole  crowd,  and  carefully  laid  away  in  a  place 
of  safety,  by  the  last  man  who  received  it  in  the  skirt  of  the 
mob.  After  a  momentary  pause,  the  work  of  havoc  and 
fury  was  resumed.  The  name  of  Washington,  the  imaj^e 
of  our  country,  and  the  love  of  liberty,  live  indivisibly  in  the 
memory  of  every  American  heart,  and  are  but  different  asso- 
ciations of  that  high  commanding  sentiment  which  fluctu- 
ates through  the  millions  of  our  people,  as  the  active  power 
of  the  national  soul. 

How  potent  must  be  that  influence  which  can,  by  so 
simple  an  incident,  for  even  a  season,  arrest  the  desolation, 
and  subdue  the  tempestuous  wrath  of  so  great  and  excited  a 
mass !  How  sad  it  is,  that  wisdom  and  patriotism  do  not 
teach  our  citizens  to  shun  the  occasioiis  of  such  popular  ex- 
citement ;  and  that  even  liberty  and  light  cannot  prevent  their 
occurrence.  How  true,  that  He  alone  can  ^^ still  the  tumults  of 
the  people,  who  ruleth  the  raging  of  the  sea ;  and  hy  his 
stretigth  setteth  fast  the  mountains,  being  girded  with 
power"  Yet  the  above  fact  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  enthu- 
siastic devotion,  even  of  the  most  degraded  portion  of  our 
population,  to  those  names  and  ideas  which  are  associated 
in  the  public  mind  with  national  liberty.  And  if  such  be 
the  feeling  even  of  the  mob,  what  must  be  the  more  ele- 
vated and  enlightened  public  sentiment  of  the  American 
people,  where  the  power  of  religion,  conspiring  with  the 
principles  of  freedom,  identify  our  institutions  with  the 
rights  of  conscience,  and  the  glory  of  God,  as  well  as  with 
the  national  honor  and  the  public  good  ! 

n.  But  it  is  time  to  cvamitte,  in  the  next  place,  the 
appropriate  influence  of  our  cou7itry,  especially  in  view  of 
this  sacred  deposit — Liberty. 

The  memorable  Villers  said  of  our  country  thirty  years 
ago,  in  the  infancy  of  the  Republic,  "This  State,  still  weak, 
at  a  distance  from  Europe,  has  not,  hitherto,  had  much  di- 


18 

rect  influence  on  the  political  system.  But  who  can  calcu- 
late tluvt  whicii  it  may  one  day  acquire  on  the  colonial  and 
commercial  system  so  important  to  Europe?  Who  can 
foretell  all  tliat  may  result  in  the  tv)o  worlds,  from  the 
seductive  example  of  the  independetice  conquered  hy  the 
Americans  ?  What  new  position  toould  the  loorld  assuine 
if  this  exa77iple  was  followed  7  and  without  doubt  it  will 
he  in  the  ejid." 

The  prediction  of  this  great  man,  at  the  opening  of  the 
nineteenth  centnry,  must  become  history  before  its  close. 
It  has  so  far  become  history  already,  that  sober  truth  bears 
out  the  elegant  and  impartial  Bancroft  in    the  following 
noble  illustrations  of  the  same  subject.     "  Who  will  venture 
to  measure  the  consequences  of  actions  by  the  humility  or 
remoteness  of  their  origin?    The  mysterious  influence  of 
that  power  which  enchains  the  destinies  of  states,  overruling 
the  decisions  of  sovereigns,  and  the  forethought  of  states- 
men, often  deduces  the  greatest  events  from  the  least  com- 
manding causes.    A  Genoese  adventurer  discovering  Amer- 
ica,   changed   the   commerce  of   the   world :    an   obscure 
German,  inventing  the  printing  press,  rendered  possible  the 
universal  diffusion  of  increased  intelligence.     An  Augustine 
monk,  denouncing  indulgences,  introduced  a  schism  in  reli- 
gion, and  changed  the  foundations  of  European  politics.    A 
young  French  refugee,  skilled  alike  in  theology  and  civil 
war,  in  the  duties  of  magistrates,  and  the  dialectics  of  reli- 
gious controversy,  entering  the  Republic  of  Geneva,  conform- 
ing its  ecclesiastical  discipline  to  the  principles  of  Republican 
simplicity,  established  a  party,  of  which  Englishmen  became 
members,  and  New-England  the  asylum.     The  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  mind  from  religious  despotism,  led  directly  into 
inquiries  into  the  nature  of  civil  government ;  and  the  doc- 
trines of  popular  liberty,  which  sheltered  their  infancy  in 
the  wildernesses  of  the  newly  discovered  Continent,  within 
the  short  space  of  two  centuries,  have  infused  themselves 
into  the  life  blood  of  every  rising  State,  from  Labrador  to 


19 

Chili ;  established  outposts  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oregon  and 
in  Liberia,  and  making  a  proselyte  of  enlightened  France, 
have  disturbed  all  the  ancient  governments  of  Europe,  and 
awakened  the  public  mind  to  resistless  action,  from  the 
shores  of  Portugal  to  the  palaces  of  the  Czars." 

The  American  heart  of  the  writer  may  have  imparted 
fervor  to  his  glowing  conceptions ;  but  truth  has  guided  his 
pen.  Even  in  the  ordinary  course  of  natural  causes,  and  of 
human  events,  the  sudden  endowment  of  man  with  another 
Hemisphere,  was  well  fitted  to  give  a  new  and  a  most  extra- 
ordinary impulse  to  the  civilized  world.  But  occurring  as 
it  did,  at  so  peculiar  a  crisis,  and  standing  in  a  most  provi- 
dential  relation  to  the  revival  of  letters,  to  the  discovery  of 
the  magnet,  the  invention  of  printing,  and  especially  to  the 
Reformation  of  Luther,  the  extent  of  its  influence  cannot  be 
greisped  by  a  created  intellect. 

And  then  consider  the  moral  power  of  those  great  prin- 
ciples of  civil  and  religious  freedom  which  we  have  called 
the  American  System.  Contemplated  as  a  model,  thono-h 
viewed  from  afar,  our  Federal  Republic  has  been  watched  by 
the  eager  eyes  of  all  the  nations  of  Europe  ;  and  a  stream  of 
light  has  gone  forth  from  it  to  distant  lands.  The  name  o^ 
our  country  is  as  music  in  the  hearts  of  men.  "  It  is  dread- 
ful to  tyrants  only.''''  But  it  is  not  merely  "  the  example''  of 
the  American  people  "  conquering  their  independence,"  that 
has  been  "  seductive  in  the  two  worlds."  The  success 
which  attended  the  illustrious  experiment  of  self-govern- 
ment, and  of  unqualified  freedom,  has  solved  the  great  ques- 
tion, and  brought  in  a  new  dispensation  of  liberty  to  man. 
It  has  taught  the  world  that  the  people,  under  the  influence 
of  intelligence  and  religion,  are  the  only  qualified,  as  well  as 
the  only  lawful  sovereigns.  It  has  proved  that  tlie  Gospel 
of  Christ  can  only  then  have  free  course  and  be  glorified, 
when  it  is  not  trammelled  and  polluted  by  alliance  to  the 
State.  It  has  illustrated  the  power  and  glory  of  voluntary 
union,  in  all  the  forms  of  human  association  that  regard  the 


2U 

public  good,  or  the  Divine  glory  :  and  the  press,  as  it  were^ 
putting  on  the  wings  of  the  morning,  is  bearing  the  news  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth.  In  a  word,  our  country  has  been 
made  a  field  of  public  demonstration  to  the  universe,  of  those 
great  principles  which  constitute  the  rights,  and  secure  the 
happiness  of  men  and  nations ;  and  as  such,  it  is  "a  spec- 
tacle to  men  and  angels"  And  should  the  American 
Union  this  day  be  dissolved,  and  our  glory  depart  for  ever, 
we  have,  under  God,  lasted  long  enough  to  establish  the 
great  theory  of  freedom  :  the  world  will  have  been  made  the 
wiser  and  better  for  our  example :  we  shall  not  have  lived 
in  vain  :  our  principles  cannot  perish.  From  our  ashes,  the 
glorious  spirit  of  our  institutions  would  be  relumed,  and 
being  poured  upon  other,  and  more  favored  generations, 
would  live  and  reign  as  long  as  the  sun  endures. 

But  our  influence  ought  not  to  be  restricted  to  indirect 
effects,  or  what  Schlegel  with  a  taunt  calls,  "  natural  infec- 
tion." The  intentional  and  direct  instrumentality  of  a 
nation  of  philanthropists  and  of  freemen,  should  constantly 
bear  upon  the  extension  of  those  great  principles  by  which 
we  have  been  so  richly  blessed.  The  "horizon  of  man"  is 
our  only  boundary.  The  world  is  our  field  ;  and  its  eman- 
cipation the  illustrious  and  certain  end.  All  good  is  social  and 
diffusive,  and  especially  that  which  relates  to  the  public  wel- 
fare of  men  and  nations.  The  desire  to  impart  these  inestima- 
ble blessings  to  other  nations,  is  a  striking  characteristic  of  the 
American  spirit ;  and,  in  correspondency  with  this  spirit,  is 
the  ever-deepening  preparation,  in  the  condition  and  hearts 
of  men,  to  receive  them  at  our  hands. 

Our  accessible  and  peculiar  field  of  influence  is  even 
now  immense.  If  we  do  but  rightly  colonize  our  own  ter- 
ritory, and  sustain  in  it  as  we  ought,  the  institutions  of  reli- 
gion and  of  civil  freedom,  we  shall  soon  number  one  hun- 
dred millions  of  freemen  in  one  vast  Republic,  stretching 
from  ocean  to  ocean,  larger  than  all  Europe,  and  fitted  to 
support  half  the  present  population  of  the  globe. 


21 

And  then  the  entire  Continent,  embracins;  both  the  Ame- 
ricas, must,  at  last,  if  we  are  faithful  to  our  subHme  and 
solemn  trust,  be  evangelized,  and  liberated,  and  moulded  by 
our  influence. 

Africa  too,  bleeding,  injured  Africa,  must  look  chiefly  to 
us  for  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  all  the  blessings  which  it 
confers  on  man  in  social  institutions,  and  for  eternal  life. 
There  are  now  in  our  midst,  millions  of  her  sons  brought  to 
our  shores  by  the  most  nefarious  system  of  fraud  that  the 
world  ever  saw,  who,  in  the  mysterious  providence  of  God, 
are  becoming  prepared  to  bear  these  blessings  back  to  the  mo- 
ther country ;  and  Africa,  long  trodden  under  foot  by  the 
nations,  is  now  beginning  to  stretch  forth  her  hands  to  God. 
But  of  all  nations,  we  have  most  injured  Africa ;  and  of  all 
nations  we  possess  the  most  extraordinary  resources  to  civil- 
ize, and  evangelize  that  dark  continent.  Our  facilities  are  ex- 
ceeded only  by  our  obligations.    It  has  justly  been  remarked 
by  the  celebrated  Douglass,  that  "  the  civilizers   of  Africa 
must  be  Africans ;  and  America  is  the  country  where  the 
civilization  of  Africa  ought  to  commence.    The  methods  of 
Providence,  in  preparing  a  way  for  the  conversion  of  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  deserve  to  be  well  considered, 
and  ought  to  be  followed  in  our  undertakings  towards  the 
same  end.     While  Europeans  are  prevented  from  entering 
Africa,  by  the  unhealthy  climate,  and  their  suspected  color, 
thousands  and  miUions  of  Africans  have  been  permitted  to  be 
carried  into  countries,  where  Europeans  cannot  only  reach 
them  with  safety,  but  where  they  are  continually  surrounded 
with  the  arts  and  knowledge  of  Europe.  These  Africans  may 
be  trained  with  great  facility,  to  be  the  improvers  of  their 
country.    Africa  is  in  so  low  a  state,  that,  at  first,  persons  of 
very  moderate  acquirements  will  be  most  in  contact  with  the 
minds  of  their  countrymen  ;  and  a  knowledge  of  the  com- 
mon arts  of  life,  and  the  power  of  instructing  others  in  read- 
ing, writing,  and  arithmetic,  seems  suflicicnt  for  the  first 
pioneers,  who,  thus  qualified,  if  they  are  sincere  and  zeal- 

4 


22 

oiis  Cliristians,  will  find  suflicieiit  opportunity  to  spread 
their  opinions.'' 

Such,  then,  is  the  immeasurable  field  of  influence  which 
Providence  has  made  pciculiarly  accessible  to  us.  The  right 
discharge  of  the  great  duty  which  we  owe  to  these  extended 
and  important  portions  of  the  earth,  may,  by  eminence,  be 
called  i\\^  fulfilling-  of  the  American  Dispensation. 

Tliat  we  do  not  take  too  large  a  view  of  the  field  of 
American  influence,  or  too  partial  a  one  of  its  power  in  the 
earth,  I  call  for  the  corroborating  testimony  of  our  enemies. 
We  are  sustained  by  the  fears  of  arbitrary  princes,  and  the 
monitory  voices  of  their  wakeful  sentinels,  who,  at  the  foot 
of  the  throne,  and  in  the  last  watches  of  a  long,  dark  nighti 
frrbode  a  morning  of  terror  to  the  oppressors  of  man. 
Frederic  Von  Schlegel,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  sub- 
jects of  Austria,  and  for  some  time  intimately  allied  in  state 
affairs,  with  the  famous  Metternich,  thus  strongly  speaks  in 
his  Philosophy  of  History.  "  It  is,  strictly  speaking,  an  in- 
justice to  call  this  the  French  revolution,  or  to  regard  it  as 
such  exclusively.  It  was  a  political  disease,  a  popular  epi- 
demic of  the  age  in  general.  In  Holland  and  Belgium,  it 
had  broken  out  before  ;  in  Poland,  about  the  same  time  as 
in  France ;  for,  although  the  Belgian,  and  more  particu- 
larly the  Polish  revolution,  had  a  character  wholly  different 
from  that  of  France,  it  was,  nevertheless,  only  a  new  phe- 
nomenon of  the  same  kind,  a  mere  additional  example  of 
the  prevailing  tone  and  spirit  of  the  age.  The  real  nur- 
sery of  all  these  destructive  principles,  the  revolutionary 
school  for  France,  and  the  rest  of  Europe,  had  been  North 
America.  The  evil  spread  over  many  other  lands,  either 
by  natural  infection,  or  toilful  communication,  though 
France  did,  indeed,  continue  to  be  the  grand  centre  and  focus 
of  destruction.  And  even  after  the  whole  power  of  the 
revolution  was  concentrated  in  a  single  person,  there  was 
no  material  change  in  its  progression.  Externally,  it  re- 
mained, as  to  its  form  and  relation  to  other  powers,  a  reli- 


23 

gious  war  of  one-and-twenty  years  ;  such  it  really  was,  not 
only  in  its  origin,  but  in  its  revolutionary  and  destructive 
tendency,  and  in  its  unceasing,  fanatical  enmity  to  every 
thing  sacred.  There  was  something  positive,  too,  at  the 
bottom  of  this  modern  heathenism,  to  wit,  political  idolatry  ; 
whether  the  immediate  temporary  idol  of  the  day  were  the 
Republic^  and  the  Goddess  of  Freedom,  or  the  Great  Na- 
tion, or  uimiingled  lust  of  conquest,  matters  little.  It  is  the 
same  demon  of  political  destruction,  the  same  spirit  of  anti- 
Christian  policy  which  deceives  the  age,  and  aspires  to  rule 
the  world.  The  abyss  which  threatens  the  world  at  present 
with  destruction,  is  really  nothing  but  this  political  idolatry/, 
whatever  form  or  name  it  may  assume.  Till  this  is  wholly 
done  away,  till  this  abyss  of  ruin  is  completely  closed,  we 
cannot  expect  to  see  the  house  of  the  Lord,  where  peace 
and  righteousness  embrace  each  other,  rise  on  the  renovated 
earth."     Lecture  17,  vol.  2.  p.  286. 

And  again  :  "  Two  things  are  essential  to  the  true  and 
complete  renovation  of  our  age  ;  one  is,  a  fuller  develop- 
ment of  Christian  government,  (de  Christhchen  staats,)  of 
the  Christian  state,  (meaning  the  Papacy,)  and  of  the 
Catholic  principles  of  government,  in  opposition  to  the  revo- 
lutionary spirit  and  anti-Christian  principles  which  have 
hitherto  prevailed  ;  the  other  is  the  Christian  philosophy  of 
religious  or  Catholic  science." 

He  calls  the  peculiar  character  of  the  18th  century, 
with  respect  to  politics,  '•  Protestantismus  des  Staats,"  poli- 
tical PROTESTANTISM,  and  prcscribes  as  the  only  cure  for 
it,  the   "  Katholische  Staats  grundsairen,"  i.  e.  Catholic 

PRINCIPLE.S    of    government    AND    POLICY. LectWC   17, 

vol.  2.  pp.  309,  et  seq. 

You  see,  then,  that  Protestantism,  and  Liberty  are  sy- 
nonymous at  the  courts  of  despots,  and  in  the  vocabulary  of 
the  foes  of  human  liberty  ;  and  even  our  enemies  themselves 
beitiir  judcrf's,  our  country  is  the  nursery  of  tliose  principles 
and  institutions  which  are  to  liberate  the  world. 


24 

III.  The  facts  already  presented,  make  it  sufficiently  ap- 
parent that  our  position  as  a  nation  exposes  us  to  be  the 
subjects,  as  well  as  the  agents,  of  a  very  important  influ- 
ence. We  are  eminently  qualified  to  take,  as  well  as  to 
give,  impressions:  and,  in  view  of  our  relations  to  other 
lands,  an  impartial  judgment  will  not  hesitate  to  decide,  that, 
without  peculiar  vigilance,  and  the  Divine  protection,  we 
shall  be  exposed  to  immense  peril  in  this  interchange  of  in- 
fluence. 

At  the  era  of  the  discovery  and  first  settlement  of  Ame- 
rica, powerful  causes,  already  recited,  combined  to  send  to 
our  continent,  and  especially  to  our  country,  the  best  popu- 
lation of  the  Old  World.  The  enterprise  and  youthful  ardor 
of  Europe  were  directed  to  our  shores.  The  perils  of  the 
deep,  and  the  still  greater  and  more  enduring  trials  and 
terrors  of  the  wilderness,  affrighted  the  timid,  and  repelled 
the  faint-hearted.  Yet  the  field  of  immeasurable  greatness 
opened  by  the  discovery  of  the  New  World,  attracted  to  it 
minds  congenial  with  that  of  their  illustrious  leader ;  and 
the  spirit  of  Columbus  rested  on  the  first  Colonists  of  Ame- 
rica. And  then,  wViile  these  facts  sifted  the  infant  States  of 
the  inert  mass  which  might  have  infested  and  clogged  them, 
a  still  higher  and  more  important  influence  was  gathering 
to  the  American  shores  the  choicest  population  of  Europe. 
It  was  the  love  of  liberty,  especially  of  religious  liberty,  act- 
ing in  a  line  with  the  attraction  of  America,  and  the  expul- 
sive power  of  persecution  and  oppression.  These  causes 
collected  giant-hearts  into  America,  and  prepared  the 
way  for  those  brilliant  and  benign  effects  which  have  fol- 
lowed. 

But  now,  circumstances  have  not  a  little  changed  in 
several  important  respects.  It  is  no  longer  the  test  of  a  hero 
to  venture  to  America  ;  and  the  Exodus  is  no  longer  limited 
to  those  choice,  erect,  indomitable  spirits,  whose  motto  was, 

Ubi  libertas — ibi  patria. 


S5 

We  have  not  ceased  to  attract  the  tme  noblemen  of  the 
earth  ;  those  who  love  liberty  and  truth,  and  man  and  God. 
But  we  have  become  a  sort  of  depot  to  the  corruptions  and 
crimes  of  Europe.  The  sinking  and  besotted  Empires  of  the 
Old  World  discharge  upon  us  their  mendicants,  and  paupers, 
and  criminals.  We  receive  the  worst  population  of  the 
worst  States  of  Europe,  They  make  their  jail-deliveries  on 
our  shores,  and  seem  to  have  selected  America  as  the 
Botany  Bay  of  the  universe. 

Early  in  our  national  history  Mr.  Jefferson,  with  almost 
a  prophetic  voice,  warned  us  of  our  danger.  "  To  these^ 
(the  principles  of  our  government,)  nothins'  can  he  more 
opposed  than  the  maxims  of  absolute  monarchies  ;  yet, 
from,  such  we  are  to  expect  the  greatest  number  of  emi- 
grants. They  loill  bring-  with  them  the  principles  of  the 
govenwient  they  leave,  inibibed  in  their  early  youth ;  or  if 
able  to  throw  them  off,  it  will  be  in  exchange  for  an  un- 
bounded licentiousness,  passing,  as  is  usual,  from  one  ex- 

trem,e  to  another In  proportion  to  their  mimbers, 

they  will  share  with  us  the  legislation.  They  will  infuse 
into  it  their  spirit,  warp  and  bias  its  direction,  and  ren- 
der it  a  heterogeneous,  incoherent,  distracted  massJ'' 

The  causes,  in  a  word,  which  brought  the  first  emi- 
grants to  America,  have  changed ;  and  with  them,  the 
character  of  those  who  come.  Like  poison  infused  into  the 
animal  economy,  these  unhappy  elements  rather  mingle, 
than  amalgamate  with  the  body  of  the  nation.  They  are 
permitted  by  the  liberal  and  confiding  character  of  our 
institutions,  to  enter  at  once,  into  all  that  is  peculiar  to  us. 
They  crowd  our  cities ;  they  are  dispersed  through  our 
villages  and  fields;  they  expel  us  almost  from  our  own 
ballot-boxes ;  they  mob  us  in  our  own  high-ways ;  they 
reduce  the  standard  of  public  morals  ;  they  crowd  the  cata- 
logue of  public  crime ;  they  corrupt  our  people ;  they 
endanger  our  national  well-being.  We  were  launched  as  a 
life-boat  for  the  nation.s,  from  the  wreck  of  human  liberty 


26 

and  hoi^e  in  the  Old  World  ;  and  now  we  are  ready  to  be 
overwhelmed  in  a  sea  of  troubles,  by  those  whom  we  have 
attempted  to  save.  It  is  impossible  for  our  free  institutions 
long  to  endure,  unimpaired,  the  infusion  of  such  destruc- 
tive elements  ;  or  even  to  a  distant  day  to  survive  the  shocks 
incident  to  so  unnatural  and  ruinous  an  alliance.  We  must 
regulate  the  emigration  to  our  country  by  additional  laws, 
and  stronger  conservative  sanctions,  or  we  shall  soon  find  in 
our  bosom,  when  it  will  be  too  late  for  remedy,  the  shafl 
which  our  own  hands  have  winged,  and  directed  thither. 

But,  besides  the  evils  incident  to  the  influx  of  so 
unhappy  a  population,  there  is  every  ground  to  believe 
that  there  are  deeply-laid  designs  upon  the  liberties  of 
our  country,  at  the  seats  of  power  in  Papal  Europe. 
We  have  presented  to  you  already,  the  desig-n,  as  well 
as  the  fears  and  eninity  of  the  Austrian  Statesman — the 
"  Political  Protestantism^''  of  America,  as  he  has  told  us, 
can  only  have  its  cure  in  the  spirit  of  monarchy,  transfused 
through  the  State  and  the  Church.  America,  he  avows  to 
be  the  "  real  nursery"  of  liberty ;  or,  as  he  denominates  it, 
^^  the  Revolutionary  School  for  France  and  the  rest  of 
Europe.''^  We  are  dreaded  by  foreign  despots ;  we  are 
explored  and  agitated  by  foreign  emissaries,  who  are  sus- 
tained by  foreign  gold ;  and  foreign  influence  direcdy 
exerted,  though  unseen,  may  yet  be  numbered  (without 
peculiar  vigilance)  among  the  leading  causes  not  only 
of  national  danger,  but  of  threatened  dissolution  to  the 
American  Union. 

It  was  the  Father  of  his  Country  who  said,  "  Against 
the  insidious  wiles  of  foreign  influence,  (I  conjure  you  to 
believe  me,  fellow-citizens,)  the  jealousy  of  a  free  people 
ought  to  be  constantly  awake,  since  history  and  experience 
prove,  that  foreign  influence  is  one  of  the  most  baneful 
foes  of  a  republican  government." 

The  revolutions  now  occurring,  or  which  have  recently 
occurred,  in  the  Papal  States  of  Europe,  have  also  given  us 


27 

unwonted  accessions  of  Jesuit-emio^rants.  He  must  be  ig- 
norant of  the  history  of  the  world,  or  worse,  who  has  any- 
thing to  hope  from  their  influence,  or  to  trust  to  their  prin- 
ciples. They  are,  alternately,  the  instruments  and  the  mas- 
ters of  Kings.  They  lurk  through  our  country  in  all  sorts 
of  disguises,  but  with  a  single  end  in  view,  viz.  "  The 
GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  WORLD."  It  was  a  Celebrated 
French  politician,  himself  once  an  Abbe,  (De  Pratt,)  who 
said  of  their  system,  "In  time,  it  will  give  embar- 
rassment TO  the  United  States." 

Besides  these  very  serious  facts,  such  is  the  extent  of  our 
commercial  intercourse,  and  such  the  intimacy  of  our  national 
relations  with  the  States  of  Europe,  that  every  event  which 
at  all  affects  the  family  of  nations  in  the  Old  World,  by  a 
necessary  and  rapid  sympathy  must  also  affect  America. 
But  Europe  is  apparently  on  the  verge  of  a  crisis  more  event- 
ful and  decisive,  than  any  which  has  transpired  since  the 
fall  of  Napoleon,  or  perhaps  since  the  treaty  of  Westphalia. 
Immense  convulsions,  revolutions  in  the  Church  and  in  the 
State,  of  the  most  radical  character  ;  bloody  wars,  which, 
being  "  wars  of  opinion,^''  will  admit  of  no  termination  but 
m  the  extinction  of  one  party,  and  the  supreme  triumph  of 
the  other,  seem  to  threaten  all  Europe ;  and  her  destiny  is 
suspended  upon  the  verge  of  a  smouldering  volcano.  The 
voice  of  the  nations,  conspiring  with  the  spirit  of  prophecy, 
seems  to  say  aloud,  '  one  wo  is  past,  and  behold,  two  woes 
come  quickly.'  Now,  every  throe  in  the  Old  World  will  be 
felt  with  electrical  effect  in  our  country.  We  shall  take  the 
impression  of  every  great  event;  and  the  last  earthquake, 
which  shall  rend  and  dissolve  the  ancient  dynasties  of  Eu- 
rope, will  send  its  agitations  into  the  bosom  of  our  country. 
"  The  earth  shall  be  shaken  at  the  sound  of  their  fall."' 

Add  to  all  this,  that  even  while  I  address  you,  we  are 
threatened  with  a  war  with  our  ancient  friend  and  ally, 
France,  which,  if  permitted  to  issue,  must  not  only  be 
eminently  disastrous  to  both  nations,  but  must  throw  back 


28 

the  march  of  truth  and  Uhcrty  lor  perhaps  an  age.  It  will 
put  these  nations  in  a  wrong  position  to  each  other,  and 
towards  many  of  the  existing  Kingdoms  of  Europe,  in  re- 
gard to  the  great  and  glorious  principles  which  we  have 
been  seeking  from  the  origin  of  our  Republic,  to  illustrate 
and  dirt'use  abroad.  These  thoughts  are  well  fitted  to  excite 
our  very  serious  solicitude  for  our  country,  and  require  even 
young  men  who  love  her,  "  to  be  sobei-minded." 

While  then  we  should  seek  by  every  proper  influence^ 
to  send  abroad  the  spirit  and  blessings  of  liberty,  and  hail 
with  enthusiasm  the  arrival  on  our  shores  of  all  men  of 
every  name,  and  from  every  clime,  who  love  liberty,  and 
are  prepared  to  enjoy  and  preserve  it — at  the  same  time,  as 
the  depositaries  and  sentinels  of  that  inestimable  birth-right 
which  God  has  conferred  upon  us,  let  us  be  ever  erect  and 
ever  wakeful ;  prepared  at  all  times  to  give  up  all,  rather 
than  this  crown  of  our  country,  and  glory  of  our  age. 

I  speak,  respected  Youth,  in  the  freedom  and  the  fervor 
of  an  American  citizen  ;  born  a  freeman,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  I  am  determined  to  die  a  freeman  :  and  I  am  resolved, 
while  I  live  and  have  utterance,  to  magnify  and  to  defend 
that  inestimable  boon,  which  has  descended  to  us  from  our 
martyred  ancestry,  as  on  a  sea  of  blood. 

IV.  But  it  is  time,  in  the  last  place,  that  we  briefly  ad- 
vert to  some  of  those  anomalies  and  evils  which  threaten  us 
from  within. — For  our  object  is  impartially  to  glance  at  our 
leading  characteristics.  These  present  a  blended  portrait- 
ure of  light  and  shade.  We  have  our  glory,  and  also  our 
shame ;  our  reasons  for  rejoicing  and  gratitude,  and  our 
calls  to  deep  repentance,  and  thoughtful  apprehension  of  the 
future. 

Among  these  intestine  evils,  we  name  first, —  That  our 
population  outruns  the  niea7is  of  knowledge.  The  growth 
of  our  population  by  the  twofold  means  of  natural  increase 
and  foreign  emigration,  is  without  a  parallel.     We  double 


29 

our  number,  and  with  it,  the  surface  of  country  on  which 
we  dwell,  every  few  years.  Our  agricultural  habits,  if  pro- 
perly directed,  are  eminently  conducive  to  orood  order,  sound 
morals,  and  liberty.  But  the  spirit  of  internal  emigration  is 
incessant  and  most  injurious.  It  scatters  a  sparse  popula- 
tion  over  an  interminable  extent  of  territory,  and  when  im- 
pelled, as  at  this  moment,  by  the  dangerous  spirit  of  specu- 
lation in  the  soil  of  the  nation,  it  becomes  a  source  of  the 
most  detestable  vices.  The  unstable,  migratory  spirit  of  the 
people,  with  their  rapid  growth,  runs  away  from  know- 
ledge, even  when  carried  by  the  hand  of  benevolence  to 
their  doors  ;  and  the  Gospel  of  Christ  must  pitch  its  taber- 
nacle in  the  wilderness,  and  follow  our  people  from  pasture 
to  pasture,  like  wandering  shepherds,  in  order  to  overtake 
and  save  the  ever-growing,  ever-moving  mass.  Even  at 
this  day,  our  more  densely  populated  and  established  States 
are  very  imperfectly  supplied  with  the  means  of  elementary 
and  general  knowledge,  and  the  public  ministrations  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  And  our  new  States  and  Territories, 
rising  like  enchantment  to  view,  are  in  danger  of  retrogra- 
dation  in  the  arts  of  life,  in  general  intelligence,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  saving  knowledge  and  influence  of  Christianity. 
They  are  now  living  in  only  the  dim  twilight  of  truth  ;  and 
their  borders  are  fringed  with  a  visible  and  augmenting  bar- 
barism. Patriots,  Philanthropists,  and  Christians,  must 
adapt  their  zeal,  their  labors,  and  sacrifices  for  the  public 
good,  to  the  greatness  and  urgency  of  these  wants ;  or  infinite 
mischief  impends  over  our  country  from  this  enormous  evil. 

We  njentioii.  also,  the  unhappy  and  anomalous  evil  of 
domestic  slavery.  We  call  it  anomalous,  because  it  is  di- 
rectly at  issue  with  the  whole  genius  of  our  American  Sys- 
tem of  liberty,  with  the  radical  constitution  of  good  society, 
and  the  law  and  the  Gospel  of  God. 

I  have  been  honored  with  a  very  undue  degree  of  noto- 
riety on  this  subject,  by  the  fierce  and  fiery  fanaticism  of 
some  of  the  public  agitators  of  the  country.     My  views, 

5 


30 

therefore,  are  publicly  known,  and  have  been  carried  by  the 
exciting  character  and  diflusivo  discnssion  of  the  question, 
far  beyond  the  humble  claims  of  my  position  ;  but  not  be- 
yond my  love  for  my  country  and  the  rights  of  man.  Do- 
mestic slavery  is  an  unwilling  entail  (by  foreign  influence) 
on  these  United  States.  And  we  have  done  more  to  extin- 
guish it,  than  all  the  boasted  benefactors  of  Africa  abroad. 
We  moved  first  against  the  slave  trade,  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  In  the  short  period  of  our  national  existence, 
we  have  removed  domestic  slavery  from  the  majority  of  the 
original  sovereign  States  ;  and,  in  the  present  slave-holding 
States  of  our  confederacy,  the  spontaneous  benevolence  of 
slave-holders,  has  emancipated  more  slaves  now  residing  in 
their  midst,  than  Britain  has  bought  from  all  her  colonies. 
There  are  now  more  than  200,000  free  blacks  in  the  slave 
States  of  America.  And,  until  the  war  of  agitation  was 
begun,  the  progress  of  light  and  liberty  was  traveling 
southwardly  and  westwardly,  on  degrees  of  latitude  and  de- 
grees of  longitude.  I  say  these  things  not  to  vindicate 
slavery.  It  is  a  stain  on  our  escutcheon.  It  Tnust,  and  it 
will  cease,  and  soon;  if  fury  and  folly  will  but  cease  to 
rend  and  agitate  the  public  mind  with  revolutionary  move- 
ments, and  anti-social,  anti-national  organizations.  Slavery 
is  a  poisoned  vine,  which  has  grown  around  our  "tall  and 
goodly"  tree  of  liberty.  But  shall  we  fell  the  tree,  that  we 
may  destroy  the  noxious  vine  ?  God  forbid.  Slavery  must 
cease.  It  is  anti-American,  and  anti-Christian.  They  who 
love  it,  and  cling  to  it,  and  plead  right  and  "  Scripture  for 
the  deed,"  are  gathering  a  fearful  crisis  on  their  own  soil, 
and  for  their  own  institutions.  Such,  we  fondly  believe, 
are  found  in  a  very  small  majority.  The  agitators  of  the 
land,  whether  foreign  or  domestic,  are  quite  as  far  in  evil 
on  the  other  extreme  ;  and  assuredly,  in  quite  as  small  a 
fraction  of  our  people.  The  peaceful  and  bloodless  victory 
of  truth,  which  is  soon,  we  trust,  to  dawn  upon  us,  will, 
with  safety  to  the  nation,  and  safety  to  the  slave,  remove 


31 

the  shame  and  the  evil  of  domestic  bondage ;  and  giving 
triumph  to  order,  Uberty  to  the  captive,  true  prosperity  to 
the  land,  and  glory  to  the  Lord, — will  alike  and  for  ever 
stigmatize  and  terminate  the  manifold  excesses  which  have 
endangered  so  greatly  the  American  Union. 

Once  more,  we  remark,  in  a  few  words,  on  the  spirit  of 
insubordination  which  has  lately  appeared  in  our  land. 
Oars  is  the  best  government  in  the  world  for  good  men, 
and  the  worst  for  bad  ;  and  there  are  so  many  more  bad 
men,  than  good  in  the  world,  that  free  governments  have 
seldom  long  endured  the  unequal  contest.  It  is  a  govern- 
ment which  supposes  men  to  be  in  the  right  position,  and  of 
the  right  spirit;  a  government  of  opinion,  and  of  right  opi- 
nion ;  of  law,  order,  equity,  equality.  It  seems  to  be  a  de- 
fect in  the  constitution  of  American  society,  or,  perhaps, 
rather  an  abuse  of  our  principles,  that  there  is  a  strong  pro- 
pensity and  ready  transition  of  our  population  to  an  insub- 
ordinate spirit.  Good  laws  are  intended  to  secure,  not  to 
destroy  or  restrain  proper  liberty.  It  is  natural,  it  is  a  duty, 
to  be  jealous  of  the  least  encroachment  on  our  liberties.  It 
is  the  necessary  effect  of  our  institutions  to  awaken  such  a 
spirit ;  and,  like  the  love  of  life  in  man,  it  becomes  one  effi- 
cient means  of  preservitig-  the  inestimable  boon.  But  in  our 
country,  the  people  are  the  sovereign,  and  originally  make 
all  their  own  laws.  When,  therefore,  the  people,  with 
licentious  violence,  and  criminal  excess,  tread  the  dominion 
of  law  in  the  dust ;  and  especially  when  they  do  this  in 
masses,  so  as  alike  to  defy  detection  and  punishment,  they 
do  then  most  wantonly  plunder,  not  only  their  neighbors, 
but  themselves,  and  become  in  its  most  desolating  sense, 
national  suicides.  We  are  already  beginning  to  be  called 
the  land  of  mobs.  If  the  time  should  ever  come  when  we 
shall  deserve  the  title,  our  liberties  will  already  have  expired. 
The  immortal  Hooker,  speaking  in  his  own  noble  strain,  of 
the  dominion  and  dignity  of  law,  has  said  :  "  Of  law,  there 
can  be  no  less  acknowledged,  than  that  her  seat   is   the 


32 

bosom  of  God,  her  voice,  the  harmony  of  the  world.  All 
things  in  iieavcn  and  earth  do  her  homage;  the  very  least, 
as  feeUng  her  care,  and  the  greatest,  as  not  exempted  from 
her  power  ;  both  angels  and  men,  and  creatures  of  what 
condition  soever,  though  each  in  different  sort  and  manner, 
yet  all,  with  uniform  consent,  admiring  her  as  the  mother 
of  their  peace  and  joy." 

Shall  my  country  be  an  exception  to  the  harmony  of 
the  universe,  in  its  homage  to  law  ?  Shall  we  frighten  back 
from  the  pursuit  of  freedom,  the  nations  of  the  earth — 
which,  roused  by  our  example  from  the  oppression  of  ages, 
are  beginning  to  follow  in  the  elevated  career — by  proving 
ourselves  incapable  of  self-government,  and  unfit  to  be  free? 
What  a  spectacle  of  infamy  to  the  universe,  if,  after  the 
illustrious  achievement  of  freedom,  and  the  re-establishment 
of  those  great  principles  by  which  alone  it  can  be  preserved 
and  extended,  we  should  fall  a  sacrifice  to  the  sanguinary 
fury  of  an  unbridled  populace,  and  immolate  ourselves  with 
our  own  invincible  arms!  "It  would  raise  up  from  their 
thrones  all  the  kings  of  the  nations !  All  they  would  speak 
and  say.  Art  thou  become  like  imtons  !  Hell  from  beneath 
would  move  to  meet  thee  at  thy  coming !"  A  shout  would 
go  up  from  every  despot — from  the  Autocrat  of  the  North, 
to  the  petty  tyrant  of  the  South,  who  rules  his  trembling 
harem.  Liberty  would  cease  from  the  earth,  and  hope 
itself  expire  amidst  so  fearful  a  catastrophe  ! 

Having  thus  endeavored  to  exhibit  some  of  the  distin- 
guishing characteristics  of  our  country,  especially  at  the 
present  crisis,  it  remains  for  us  hriefiy  to  inquire  in  view  of 
theTU,  what,  as  American  Youth,  you  owe  to  your  country 
and  your  age  7     What  is  your  duty  at  the  present  crisis  ? 

The  question  of  responsibility  is  one  of  peculiar  na- 
ture and  weight  among  the  American  people.  In  other 
countries,  where  little  or  none  of  the  controling  power  is 
lodged  with  the  people,  a  very  small  portion  of  respon- 
sibility in  regard  to  the  government  of  the  country,   at- 


33 


taches  to  them.  Their  chief  si7i  seems  to  be,  a  continued 
submission  to  lawless  and  uncontrolled  despotism ;  their 
chief  cai'e,  to  shun  the  jealous  and  grasping  hand  of  power  ; 
and  their  chief  joy,  that  their  rulers  are  not  endued  with  an 
omnipresence  which  none  can  shim.  But  with  ns,  the 
people  are  the  depositaries  of  all  power  ;  from  them  all 
government  proceeds  ;  by  them  the  rulers  are  elected  and 
sustained.  The  responsibility  of  the  government  rests 
chiefly,  therefore,  upon  them.  It  attaches  the  person  of 
every  citizen,  and  is  distributed  through  the  whole  mass 
of  the  population.  Every  man  is  a  sovereign.  Their 
rulers  are  their  creatures ;  their  servants.  The  people 
are  the  seat  of  responsibility.  We  need  not  say  that 
this  immeasureably  augments  our  duties,  and  if  we  be  un- 
faithful to  our  trust,  our  dangers  as  a  nation.  But,  besides 
the  distributive  responsibility  which  attaches  to  you,  young 
gentlemen,  in  common  with  all  your  fellow-citizens,  your 
a^e  and  position  give  peculiar  importance  and  solemnity  to 
your  obligations.  It  is  the  business  of  young  men,  in  time  of 
war,  to  meet  the  enemy  in  the  gate,  and  to  vanquish  him  in 
the  high  places  of  the  field.  While  the  dew  of  their  youth 
is  on  them,  heaven  and  earth  combine  to  claim  their  earliest 
love,  and  their  freshest  service.  American  Youth  !  Delight- 
ful, kindling  epithet !  How  fraught  with  great  duties  and 
great  rewards !  How  large  and  lovely  the  field  of  their  en- 
terprise !  And  when  directed  and  sustained  by  God,  how 
blessed  their  influence,  and  how  sublime  their  destiny  ! 

When  the  youth  of  tlie  Roman  Commonwealth  were  in- 
vested with  the  toga  virilis,  the  lighter  pursuits  of  early  life 
at  orjce  gave  place  to  the  graver  cares  and  more  elevated 
duties  of  their  country.  From  that  moment  they  became 
the  property  of  the  Republic.  American  young  men  do  not 
so  early  enter  on  the  service  of  the  State ;  and  yet  they  are 
more  impatient  of  restraint,  and  sooner  aspire  to  the  right 
and  rank  of  self-control.  With  us,  the  day  for  assuming  the 
care  of  our  country,  should  begin  from  the  moment  that  our 


34 

sous  can  lisp  lier  venerated  name  ;  and  patriotism  shonld  be 
enshrined  in  the  same  sanctuary  of  the  soul,  with  the  love 
of  God. 

The  first  and  most  obvious  duty  of  every  American 
young  7nan,  is  to  acquaint  himself  loith  the  history,  the 
histittitions,  the  position,  and  the  relations,  the  infiuence, 
the  true  destiny,  and  danger  of  his  country,  especially  at 
the  2>resent  crisis.  Without  this,  he  can  never  know  his 
duty,  still  less  can  he  do  it.  One  of  the  most  singular  and 
reprehensible  oversights,  in  the  education  of  our  sons,  is, 
that  we  teach  them  to  understand  the  history  and  institutions 
of  all  lauds  and  ages,  sooner  and  better  than  their  own.  Nowj 
the  fact  is,  that  in  many  material  points,  the  same  names 
onean  things  ivholly  different  in  different  ages  of  the 
world,  and  even  in  coeval  nations.  What  do  the  rights 
of  man  mean,  at  Vienna,  or  St.  Petersburg?  What 
does  sovereign  mean  in  America  ?  What  does  good  govern- 
ment mean  at  Madrid?  What  does  freedom,  or  the  liberty  of 
the  press,  or  Christianity  mean  at  Rome,  at  this  day  ?  Our 
freedom  is  our  peculiarity,  as  it  is  our  glory  ;  our  institutions 
make  our  country  ;  for  them  it  is  we  love  our  country.  The 
history  of  these,  and  of  that  great  event,  or  rather  galaxy  of 
events,  by  which,  under  God,  they  were  established,  present, 
in  every  page,  '^  facts  combining  all  the  sobriety  of  truth, 
with  more  than  the  grandeur  of  fiction  /"  With  Irving  to 
introduce  you,  at  the  side  of  Columbus,  to  this  great  second 
inheritance  of  man,  with  Mather,  and  Ramsay,  and  Marshall, 
and  Hamilton,  and  Madison,  and  Bancroft,  to  guide  you 
through  these  scenes  of  thrilling  interest,  and  of  great 
events,  you  need  not  be  at  a  loss  to  learn  how  much  it  cost, 
in  the  toils,  and  the  blood  of  your  fathers,  to  purchase  the 
blessings  which  you  now  enjoy.  From  this  extraordinary 
history,  you  may  gather,  with  growing  gratitude,  what  you 
owe  to  your  country,  and  your  God. 

It  is  the  duty  of  American  Youth  to  prepare  themselves, 
at  all  points,  for  the  service  of  their  country. 


35 

It  is  your  birth-rig-ht,  that  you  may  rise  to  any  elevation 
in  her  service,  for  which  you  are  truly  quahtied.  The  only 
nobiUty  we  own,  is  that  of  great  endowments,  and  of  great 
virtues.  This  heraldry  we  inherit  from  the  God  of  nations. 
It  is  the  only  pedigree  of  a  free  people.  You  belong  to  your 
country.  Slie  has  been  made  the  depository  of  inestimable 
blessings,  for  her  own  enjoyment,  and  for  the  whole  family 
of  man.  She  needs  your  service  to  preserve  and  to  extend 
them  abroad.  It  is  an  illustrious  trust.  You  mnst  be  tho- 
roughly prepared  to  assume  it ;  you  must  train  your  under- 
standing, and  store  it  with  knowledge  ;  you  must  discipline 
your  atfectious  ;  form  your  habits  ;  establish  your  principles ; 
and  fix  your  great  purpose  of  life.  You  cannot,  on  the 
one  hand,  divest  yourself  of  the  weight  of  responsibility; 
you  might  as  well  try  to  divest  yourself  of  your  immortality: 
nor  yet  can  you,  on  the  other,  meet  your  duty  to  your  coun- 
try without  a  deep  and  thorough  training  of  your  whole  na- 
ture. And,  allow  us  to  add,  that  he  cannot  be  in  a  right 
position  to  his  country,  who  is  in  a  wrong  position  to  his 
God.  You  will  need  the  renovation  and  the  support 
of  religion  in  a  venal  world,  and  an  excited  age,  to 
teach  you  in  the  knowledge,  and  sustain  you  in  the 
discharge  of  those  great  and  critical  duties  which  will 
soon  become  a  part  of  your  being.  VVe  know,  full  well,  that 
young  men  are  often  ashamed  of  Jesus.  But  let  it  be  in- 
delibly inscribed  on  your  memory,  that  he  will  not  purely 
serve  his  country,  who  is  ashamed  of  his  God.  He  cannot 
be  a  safe  counsellor  who  never  prays  ;  and  that  man  always 
has  his  price,  who  glories  in  his  sin.  It  was  beaulifully  re- 
marked of  Washington,  "  that  all  his  moral  qualities  were 
great  ialeiits^  And  the  illustrious  Gnstavus  Adolphus 
prayed  at  the  head  of  his  victorious  army  on  tiie  day  of  bat- 
tle. Goodness  is  greatness.  To  all  it  is  the  only  safe  guard  ; 
but  it  is  a  crown  of  glory  to  a  young  man  ;  "  his  shield  and 
his  exceedint;  jjreat  reward;"  it  is  the  foundation  of  virtue, 
patriotism,  and  extensive  usefulness ;  it  adds  a  new  lustre  to 


36 

every  endowmenl ;  and  it  malccs  him  incorruptible.  By  it 
ambition  is  resolved  into  the  public  ^ood.  Tlie  tempter  is  re- 
buked from  the  presence  of  its  possessor ;  and  the  corrupt 
and  selfish  passions  expire  at  his  feet. 

His  grave  rebuke, 


Severe  in  youthful  beauty,  oddeth  grace 
Invincible.     Abashcil  the  tempter  stands, 
And  feels  how  awful  goodness  is,  and  sees 
Virtue  in  her  form  how  lovely  ! 

We  esteem  it  the  peculiar  honor  of  the  Institution  with 
which  you  are  connected,  that  the  Bible,  was  laid  at  its 
foundation ;  that  its  morality  was  avowed  as  the  standard  of 
its  laws;  its  influence,  the  supremacy  of  good  for  time  and 
eternity  ;  its  pages,  a  text-book  for  its  classes  ;  and  the  Saviour 
whom  it  reveals,  the  hope  of  its  teachers,  and  sons. 

In  hoc  signo  vinces. 

V.  Cherish  an  elevated,  and  disinterested  public 
spirit. 

Young  men  have  more  of  generous  purpose  than  old 
men.  Before  the  passions  have  subsided,  the  heart  may 
be  kindled  by  great  occasions  to  noble  sentiments  and  sub- 
lime actions.  But  you  need  more  than  the  impulse  of 
youthful  ardor,  which  is  irregular  in  its  operation,  and  de- 
creases with  experience.  Ours  is  a  selfish  world.  Public 
spirit  and  elevated  virtues,  are  not  native,  nor  of  easy  acqui- 
sition. They  are  great  and  rare  qualities.  Yet  they  are 
within  your  reach.  It  is  a  peculiar  mercy  also,  that  these 
qualities,  like  the  greater  luminaries  of  the  heavens,  though 
rare,  shed  their  lustre  abroad.  In  most  of  those  great  en- 
terprises, which  have  astonished  and  blessed  the  world,  a  few 
select  spirits,  only,  have  been  employed.  Sometimes  heaven 
has  committed  the  greatest  achievements  to  a  single  mind, 
as  the  names  of  Moses,  Nehemiah,  Paul,  Luther,  Columbus, 
Howard,  sufficiently  declare.  These  pioneers  of  the  race, 
have  led  the  van  of  human  enterprise,  and  have  often  stood 


37 

alone,  deserted  by  man,  but  sustained  by  God,  till  the  con- 
quest was  achieved.  Then  little  souls  almost  adored, 
whom  before  they  feared  to  follow,  and  affected  to  despise. 

We  would  not  be  understood  to  tempt  your  ambition,  or 
excite  in  your  bosoms  the  low  passion  of  the  love  of  glory  ; 
but  we  would  point  you  to  great  actions,  that  you  may 
emulate  the  sublime  disinterestedness,  and  public  good  of 
their  authors.  Nor  need  you  be  discouraged  by  the  thought, 
that  these  great  occasions  are  of  rare  occurrence,  and  of 
difficult  application.  In  an  age  and  a  land  like  this,  where 
you  stand  daily  at  the  seat  of  great  causes,  which  are  work- 
ing great  effects,  for  time,  for  the  whole  world,  and  for  eter- 
nity, your  every  day  concerns  connect  themselves  with 
great  elements,  and  great  results.  In  such  a  world,  nothing 
is  properly  little  but  selfishness.  Even  sin  works  a  great 
damnation.  So  the  most  retired  benevolence  may  bear 
friyte  that  shall  abide  for  ever. 

But  you  have  come  upon  the  stage  of  life  at  a  most 
eventful  day  in  the  history  of  the  world.  More  great  events 
have  been  developed  in  the  last  sixty  years,  than  for  ages 
before  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  next  sixty  years  will  fix 
the  principles,  and  mature  the  events  on  which,  under  God, 
the  consummation  of  all  things  below  is  suspended.  You 
may  witness  the  concluding  revolutions  of  the  nations ;  the 
latest  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies ;  the  universal  spread  of 
liberty ;  the  fall  of  sin,  and  the  conversion  of  the  world. 
Great  events  have  succeeded  each  other  very  rapidly  of  late 
years ;  and  great  effects  have  sprung  from  apparently  tri- 
vial causes.  An  obscure  layman  suggested  the  idea  of  Sun- 
day Schools  ;  and  now  what  is  the  result,  already  1  Robert 
Raikes,  the  gentle,  benevolent  Q,uaker,  has  filled  Christen- 
dom with  the  praises  of  his  name,  and  the  power  of  his 
simple,  but  sublime  principle.  And,  to  carry  on  the  chain 
of  illustrations,  a  poor  Sunday  School  boy,  in  the  person  of 
Morri.son,  gave  the  Bible  to  the  three  hundred  millions  of 
China.     The  era  is  fruitful  of  great  events  j  and  it  calls  for 

6 

4B1445 


38 

a  correspondiiifif  public  spirit  to  exhibit,  apply,  and  extend 
them.  The  inlliunico  ol'  a  disinterested  and  noble  example, 
the  habitual  display  of  a  truly  public  spirit,  is  eminently 
conducive  to  the  public  s^ood.  While  such  an  example  is 
within  the  attainment  of  all,  there  will  ever  and  anon  break 
forth  from  the  life  of  men,  actions,  which  it  is  worth  an  age 
of  toil  to  perform ;  which  give  peculiar  glory  to  God,  and 
confer  lasting  benefits  on  the  world.  Of  these,  the  great 
Robert  Hall  speaks  in  that  discourse  in  which  he  pours 
such  withering  contempt  upon  the  infidelity  of  the  age. 
He  charges  it  with  barrenness  in  great  virtues.  He  illus- 
trates what  such  virtues  are  ;  and  what  are  their  effects  : 

"  By  great  and  sublime  virtues,  are  meant  those  which 
are  called  into  action  on  great  and  trying  occasions,  which 
demand  the  sacrifice  of  the  dearest  interests  and  prospects 
of  human  life,  and  sometimes  of  life  itself;  the  virtues,  in  a 
word,  which,  by  their  rarity  and  splendor,  draw  admiration, 
and  have  rendered  illustrious  the  character  of  patriots,  mar- 
tyrs, and  confessors.  They  are  important,  both  from  their 
immediate  advantage,  and  their  remoter  influence.  They 
often  save,  and  always  illustrate,  the  age  and  nation  in 
which  they  appear.  They  raise  the  standard  of  morals ; 
they  arrest  the  progress  of  degeneracy  ;  they  diffuse  a  lustre 
over  the  path  of  life :  monuments  of  the  greatness  of  the 
human  soul,  they  present  to  the  world  the  august  image  of 
virtue  in  her  sublimest  form,  from  which  streams  of  light 
and  glory  issue  to  remote  time  and  ages." 

But  a  true  public  spirit,  though  denied  the  occasion  of 
siich  illustrious  actions,  will  pour  through  life  a  pure  and 
lucid  stream  of  good,  which,  in  its  more  gentle  and  steady 
flow,  compensates  for  the  absence  of  sublime  and  dazzling 
events. 

We  trust  that  it  is  an  error  in  our  judgment,  which  may 
spring  from  an  excess  of  admiration  of  the  era  of  the  Ame- 
rican Revolution  ; — but  we  have  feared  that  we  were  losing 
the  race  of  men  eminent  for  patriotism,  and  the  sublime  vir- 


39 

tues  of  that  wonderful  day.  Are  we  not  passing  into  the  dis- 
pensation of  great  institutions,  and  little  men  ?  Let  the  thought 
arouse  your  public  spirit.  Let  the  fear,  and  the  shame  of 
such  a  result,  for  ever  prevent  its  occurrence.  The  bane  of 
young  men  is  the  love  of  pleasure.  The  love  oitnoney^  which 
is  so  deep  and  diffusive  an  evil  in  America,  is  more  properly 
a  senile  vice.  But  the  former  belongs  to  Youth,  and  withers 
the  heart  in  which  it  settles.  It  expels  all  things  great,  as 
well  as  all  things  good.  It  is  a  vulgar,  base,  and  seltish  pas- 
sion. It  leaves  a  young  man  too  little  reason  to  be  thought- 
ful— too  little  feeling  to  be  generous.  It  is  a  sordid,  ignoble 
passion.  He  to  whom  it  is  an  act  of  self-denial  to  abandon 
the  pursuits  of  pleasure,  may  be  considered  as  lost  already 
to  his  country,  and  sealed  to  final  ruin.  He  cannot  con- 
ceive of  a  great  action,  who  stoops  so  low.  He  will  never 
"  vanquish  a  city,  who  cannot  rule  his  spirit."  He  who 
cannot  relinquish  the  cup  of  pleasure,  for  his  character,  or 
his  conscience,  has  nothing  left  for  his  country,  but  the 
beacon  of  a  wicked  hfe,  and  the  deposit,  for  her  tomb,  of  H!s 
dishonored  dust. 

Many  important  suggestions  crowd  upon  our  thoughts, 
while  we  endeavor  to  call  up  to  view  your  duty  to  your 
country  at  the  present  crisis.  But  these  will  naturally 
present  themselves  in  connection  with  what  has  been  said 
already  under  the  first  general  topic ;  many  of  them  are 
often  and  ably  discussed ;  and  it  is  also  quite  time  to  bring 
this  address  to  a  close. 

We  suggest,  then,  in  the  last  place,  the  transcendent  and 
all-comprehe7isive  duty  of  seeking.,  hy  all  proper  ineans, 
to  enthrone  in  your  country  the  supreme  influence  of  the 
Bible.  We  are  well  aware  that  the  very  mention  of  such 
an  influence  is  hateful  to  some  minds,  whose  rancor  is  only 
equalled  by  their  errors,  as  to  the  true  source  of  personal 
and  national  blessings.  We  are  aware  that  religion  lias 
been  tortured,  in  the  Old  World,  first  into  the  instrument, 
and  then  into  the  mistress  of  the  State ;  that  the  worst  men 


40 

with  whom  the  earth  was  ever  cursed,  have  heen  the  professed 
priesthood  ollhe  church  in  some  ages  ;  and  that  even  good 
men  have  often  sadly  marred  the  Church  and  the  State,  by  an 
evil  and  unnatural  alhance.  We  are  not  merely  content,  but 
rejoiced,  that  a  watchful  and  jealous  eye,  overlooking  every 
sect,  and  every  altar,  in  the  land,  guards  the  sacred  deposit 
of  our  freedom.  Christians  are  but  men — their  Ministers 
are  but  men — all  need  to  be  steadily  observed  by  the  public 
eye  ;  and  they  who  murmur  at  such  tutelary  vigilance,  are 
the  men  who  need  it  most.  But  remember  ;  it  was  not  the 
Bible,  that  corrupted  and  ruled  the  State  ;  nor  the  reading 
of  the  Bible  by  the  people,  which  enslaved  the  people.  No. 
The  Priesthood  fixsi  forsook  the  Bible,  and  ihen  forbid  it  to 
the  people ;  and  then  the  people  were  corrupted,  and  then 
they  were  enslaved.  The  word  of  God  in  the  hands  of 
the  people  has  always  restrained  the  Priesthood,  and 
liberated  the  people.  It  is  impossible  to  enslave  the 
people  loith  the  law  of  light  and  liberty  in  their  hands. 
In  our  land,  from  the  very  great  distribution  of  reli^ 
gious  influence,  it  is  out  of  the  question  to  consolidate 
religious  control,  even  supposing  the  different  denomina- 
tions to  desire  it.  For  they  would  fall  out  by  the  way,  in 
fixing  on  the  terms  of  union — they  would  divide  at  the 
threshold,  in  selecting  the  candidate  for  supremacy.  But 
one  event  can  produce  such  a  result,  and  that  is,  that  a 
single  denomination  should  control  the  majority  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  should  successfully  forbid  to  that  majority  the  use 
of  the  Bible. 

Now  the  American  people  can  never  be  free,  beyond  the 
power  and  the  period  of  self-government:  and  there  is  no 
law  but  God's,  which  can  reach  the  heart,  and  regulate  the 
life  of  man.  "  It  makes  a  man  a  law  unto  him^selfP  It 
makes  him  the  subject  of  the  King  of  kings,  and  as  to  all 
lesser  rulers  and  beings,  free,  in  fact,  by  character,  and  of 
right.  No  nation  of  the  earth  has  ever  been  free  without 
the  Bible,  or  long  enslaved  with  it.     He  is  the  eneijiy  of 


41 

his  country,  who  would  restrain  this  great  emancipator  of 
man  from  the  hands  and  the  hearts  of  the  people.  We 
appeal  to  the  history  of  the  world,  especially  (in  continued 
contrast)  to  the  history  of  our  ao^e.  Let  any  man  compare 
Scotland  with  Ireland  ;  Holland  with  Spain  ;  England  with 
Italy  ;  North  America  with  South  America.  The  history  of 
the  Bible  is  the  history,  not  only  of  light  and  of  Redemp- 
tion, but  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Hence,  the  Emperor 
of  the  Russias  put  down  the  Bible  Society ;  and  the  Pope  of 
Rome  repeatedly  denounced  it,  and  with  it,  the  liberty  of 
the  press,  and  the  freedom  of  Political  Associations.  The 
Bible  is,  under  God,  to  be  the  liberator  of  man.  Spread  it, 
then.  It  alone  can  purify  and  pacificate  the  world.  When 
its  influence  shall  have  been  felt  in  every  heart  of  man, 
there  will  not  be  left  on  earth  a  throne  for  a  tyrant ;  the 
last  subject  will  have  been  torn  from  his  dominion  ;  and  he 
will  remain  himself  the  only  slave.  It  will  go  forth  like 
the  wind  which  God  sent  forth  after  the  deluge,  over  the 
wide  waste  of  waters,  to  calm  the  ocean  of  human  passions, 
and  restore  beauty  and  order  to  the  void  and  formless 
earth. 

Thus  have  we  endeavored  to  portray  to  your  kind  atten- 
tion, Young  Gentlemen  of  the  Eucleian  and  Philoma- 
THEAN  Societies,  the  responsible  trust  committed  to  Ame- 
rican Youth,  by  the  God  of  nations.  May  you  never  be 
permitted  to  disesteem  it,  to  slight  it,  to  betray  it !  We 
would  fondly  hope  that  our  free  Government  is  no  longer 
an  experiment,  but.  that  the  principle  has  been  established, 
"  the  great  problem  solved,"  that  man  has  not  only  the 
right,  but  the  power  to  be  free. 

It  is  related  of  Columbus,  that,  on  his  way  to  the  Old 
World  with  the  7ieios  of  his  discover]/,  his  little  bark  was 
overtaken  by  so  fearful  and  prolonged  a  tempest,  that  he 
gave  up  all  hope  of  reaching  the  main-land.  In  that  awful 
moment,  big  with  manifold  death,  resolving  to  preserve 
the  great  event  from  being  buried  with  him  in  the  sea, 


42 


he  wrote  on  parchment  the  accoiint  of  his  discoveiy, 
which  he  directed  to  civilized  7nan  ;  and,  enclosing  it  in  a 
cask,  placed  it  on  the  poop  of  his  vessel,  so  that  though  he 
should  sink,  the  discovery  vnight  survive.  So  may  it  be 
with  you.  To  you  is  committed  that  treasure  which  gave 
its  chief  vakie  to  the  discovery  of  Cohimbus.  So  live,  so 
die,  that  freedom  may  survive. 


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